Batman: The Dark Knight #23.1: VentriloquistReview

Share.

The new Ventriloquist gives her debut performance.

By Jesse Schedeen

Batman himself has changed little with the onset of the New 52, but the same couldn't be said for all of his villains. And as Batman: The Dark Knight #23.1 shows, no villain has changed more than Ventriloquist. Little about the old character remains, not even the gender. But while Gail Simone makes a mighty effort to establish this new version of an old favorite, the prevailing question by the end is still, "What was wrong with the old Ventriloquist?"

The Ventriloquist special follows the same basic approach to Villains Month as the Two-Face and Poison Ivy issues. While chaos runs rampant in Gotham thanks to the Crime Syndicate, Ventriloquist embarks on a rampage whilst flashback scenes shed light on her origin. Simone adds some nice touches to spice up the formula, most notably as a group of Gotham citizens are lured into her web. Their presence lends a greater sense of danger to the story.

Simone has no trouble building up a creepy vibe around the new villain. She's clearly one of Batman's deadlier and more sadistic foes. And in some ways she's better geared towards being a Batgirl-specific rogue, which is her purpose going forward. But again, she lacks the clean simplicity of Arnold Wesker, coming across almost like a lost Joker sidekick instead. And ultimately, the idea of an ordinary man so messed up in the head that he projects a murderous split personality into a ventriloquist dummy is more unsettling than a telekinetically-powered villainess with a severe inferiority complex. It's as if Carrie joined forces with the doll from the Saw movies.

Derlis Santacruz's art is a bit mixed as far as channeling the grotesque nature of the script. Some of the more intimate scenes featuring Shauna and Ferdie are richly detailed and dynamically framed, but many of the wider shots are comparatively plain.

Hopefully this new Ventriloquist will prove her worth in the pages of Batgirl. But for now, she reads like another case of a great character brought down by unnecessary changes.